The National Health Service in the UK is requiring doctors to receive diversity training before they are allowed to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, business owners in Long Island are staging a demonstration tonight against New York’s coronavirus lockdown.
In other news, now that Brexit has taken effect, immigrants into the UK from the European Union will have to wait five years before they can receive state welfare benefits.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to acuara, JD, Max Denken, Reader from Chicago, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Bill to Increase Stimulus Checks Has Been Blocked for the Third Day in a Row
For the third day in a row, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has blocked a bill that would increase the amount of stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
140 House Republicans May Vote Against Certifying the Electoral College Vote on Jan. 6
Jake Tapper noted on Thursday that two House Republicans have confirmed to him that “at least 140 Republicans” in the will oppose the certification of the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A nationally recognized educator has called on the neighbors of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to physically attack him, as well as praised the man who assaulted Sen. Rand Paul in 2017 as “a true Kentucky hero.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
2020: The Year the Tree of Liberty Was Torched
Government corruption, tyranny, and abuse coupled with a Big Brother-knows-best mindset and the COVID-19 pandemic propelled us at warp speed towards a full-blown police state in which nationwide lockdowns, egregious surveillance, roadside strip searches, police shootings of unarmed citizens, censorship, retaliatory arrests, the criminalization of lawful activities, warmongering, indefinite detentions, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, police brutality, profit-driven prisons, and pay-to-play politicians were accepted as the norm.
Here’s just a small sampling of the laundry list of abuses-cruel, brutal, immoral, unconstitutional, and unacceptable-that have been heaped upon us by the government over the past two decades and in the past year, in particular.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Federal Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, Stacey Abrams’ sister, Georgia has ruled that a Georgia county can require some voters to cast provisional ballots with just five days left until election day.
Roughly 4,000 voters in Muscogee County are facing eligibility challenges. Judge Gardner originally issued a restraining order against the county against forcing the voters to use provisional ballots.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday that 6,772 fans will be allowed to attend the Buffalo Bills’ first home playoff game in 25 years, and he plans to be there, too.
Meanwhile, indoor dining, Broadway and movie theaters remain closed across the state. High school, college, and professional football teams in the Empire State have had to delay games or play without fans throughout the year, with the exception of West Point games, which have been played on federal land. Thirteen other NFL teams nationwide also did not have fans at any home games this season.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Emancipation Memorial Honoring Freed Slaves in Boston Officially Removed
Boston’s iconic Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Freedman’s Memorial, has been officially removed from its downtown location following the city’s public arts commission vote to do so last summer.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Employee Sabotaged More Than 500 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses, WI Hospital Says
A Wisconsin hospital has fired an employee whom it says acted “intentionally” in removing 57 vials of COVID-19 vaccine from refrigerated storage last week and leaving them out overnight.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
FDA Levies $14,000 Fine Against Distillers That Produced Hand Sanitizer in Response to Pandemic
Despite stepping forward to produce an essential good in the middle of a global pandemic, American distillers that revamped their processes to manufacture hand sanitizer amid a national shortage have been met with a harsh consequence: a minimum $14,060 fee from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Health Officials Say COVID-19 Variant Was Detected in San Diego County
“The virus is becoming more fit, and we’re like a deer in the headlights,” warned Dr. Eric Topol, head of Scripps Research Translational Institute. He noted that the U.S. does far less genetic sequencing of virus samples to discover variants than other developed nations do, and thus was probably slow to detect this new mutation.”
| — Hat tip: Max Denken | [Return to headlines] |
Homeless Advocacy Group Occupies Family Hotel, Refuses to Pay Bill
A small family-run hotel already on its knees as a result of the pandemic was suddenly occupied by a homeless advocacy group which booked 16 rooms and then refused to pay the bill.
“On Christmas Eve, a homeless advocacy group booked 16 rooms at the Travelodge Motel at 3518 Pacific Hwy. E. and paid for one night,” reports KIRO 7.
“But now, the group told the motel’s manager they have no plans to check out, or to pay the bill.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS supporters have called for attacks on revellers this New Year’s Eve in a series of vile posters released online.
The posters include an image of an attacker stood in front of a crowd holding a knife as well as threats to “make those who are alive join the doomed”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ivanka Trump Tweets Love for Iowa, Sparking Speculation for a 2024 Presidential Bid
Speculation about a potential 2024 presidential bid has been ramped up after Ivanka Trump tweeted out her love for Iowa.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Long Island Small Business Owners Resist Shutdowns, Hold Protest Rally on New Year’s Eve
Small business owners in Long Island, New York’s service industry, are holding protests New Year’s Eve against the shutdown mandates that are killing many of their businesses, News 12 Long Island reports.
“Guess what everybody’s going to do tonight if they can’t go to their local establishment and allow us to support our families … they’re going to gather at home,” small business owner Jennifer Harrison told the local Long Island outlet.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Mask Mandates Are Absolutely Useless
A spate of studies has called into question the effectiveness of mask mandates and other nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) — such as lockdowns, curfews and stay-at-home orders — in controlling COVID-19 and lowering death rates.
Researchers from Rational Ground, which is providing resources, including data analysis, related to COVID-19, specifically looked into mask mandates and whether or not they’re effective, with results suggesting widespread mask usage has been virtually useless.1The fact is, mask mandates were rolled out despite a lack of solid evidence to support their use among the general population. On the contrary, the evidence against them continues to mount.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
McConnell, Pelosi Possibly Working on Rule Change to Block Electoral College Objection
Following the news this morning, Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor-Greene tweeted out that the “word on the Hill” is that GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell is working together with Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a rules change “deal” to block our Electoral College Certification objection.
So far OVER 30 Republican representatives and Senator Josh Hawley have confirmed they will challenge the Electoral College count next week.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mysterious Disappearance of Flu in San Diego Prompted Call for Audit of COVID Records
One of the most bizarre features of the alleged COVID-19 ‘global pandemic’ has been the mysterious disappearance of the seasonal flu in medical and public health record keeping. It’s as if the Flu just vanished into thin air after being the most common perennial seasonal respiratory virus.
[Comment: Likely health officials recategorized flu cases as COVID after PCR tests that generate 98% false positives.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nurse Contracts COVID a Week After Getting Vaccine. And He’s Not the Only One
As the highly touted Covid vaccine makes its way into the arms of nurses, doctors, elderly, and others who are immuno-compromised, it appears as though it isn’t as effective as we were led to believe. An ER nurse in San Diego received his Covid vaccination last week. Seven days later, he started feeling symptoms, and tested positive for the virus the next day.
Cue the experts, who tell us this isn’t uncommon, it’s what they expect, and this is only one of many cases where a vaccinated individual still contracted the virus. The goalposts seem to be moved again, as some are now saying that those receiving the vaccination will need a second shot about 30 days later. Meanwhile, the person is still susceptible to the virus, as the first dose is only about 50% effective.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Like it or not, America is already at war within. The war has actually been going on for quite some time now, although most Americans remain totally unaware.
What we have learned since November 3, 2020 is that most of the people sitting on a court bench in this country are one of theirs, not ours. Never was this more obvious than when seven U.S. Supreme Court justices denied the Trump campaign, more the twenty states, and nearly 80-million Americans due process in their court, concerning the most fraudulent election in U.S. history.
Seven members of the high court are “theirs.” Only two members of that court, justices Thomas and Alito, are “ours.”
More than 40 lawsuits have been filed challenging blatant election fraud in at least seven states, only a few of them filed by the Trump campaign. Almost every court refused to hear the cases, blocking overwhelming evidence from being presented in a court of law, ignoring more than 10,000 eyewitness testimonies, denying the American people due process of law and the right to determine the future of our country via free, fair, and legitimate elections.
All of these judges are theirs, not ours. They do not work for us, nor do they keep their oaths to protect and defend our Constitutional Republic. In fact, they all violate their oaths to us daily, as they work with “them” to destroy our nation.
Every American knows that we are in an “US” vs. “THEM” internal war right now. But most Americans do not know who “they” are, or even who and what “we” are. Their new norm is anything but normal. Nothing in the USA is normal right now and every American knows it. But most Citizens do not know who they are. They can’t figure out who the enemy really is.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A poll observer in Cobb County, Georgia said during a state Senate subcommittee meeting that she reviewed nearly 300 overseas military ballots and that as high as 90 percent of them went to Biden.
The poll observer, Debbie Fisher, says she reviewed ballots during the November 16 hand recount, and that “throughout the day, it made me sicker to see” that so many were going for Biden. According to Fisher, such a scenario was “statistically impossible” as that part Cobb County is traditionally Republican.
But that’s not the only suspicious thing she witnessed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Shootings Surge Under Mayor Lightfoot in Chicago in 2020
More than 4,000 shootings took place in Chicago from January 1, 2020, through December 27, 2020, under Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s term.
The city saw 4,115 shooting victims, a number which includes both fatal and non-fatal shootings, and is 1,412 more than 2019.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Someone can actually siphon off that data, modify the data, and then feed it right back into the system, or kind of do a pump and dump in real time.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Superspreader’ Costco Allowed to Remain Open While Restrictions Extended on Small Business
As of Monday, almost 150 employees at a Costco in Washington state have tested positive for COVID 19, according to Yakima Health District (YHD) officials.
The YHD made a second visit to Costco on Monday, according to health district spokeswoman Lilian Bravo, who revealed the findings on Tuesday. After their first visit last week, officials said at least 68 staff members had tested positive for COVID-19 over the past week at the location in Union Gap.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Texas AG Suing Austin, Its Mayor Over COVID-19 Indoor Dining Restrictions
The Texas Attorney General sued the city of Austin Wednesday for imposing COVID-19 indoor dining restrictions over New Year’s weekend.
Arguing that local officials did not have the authority to enact the measures, Republican AG Ken Paxton filed suit against the city, mayor Steven Adler, and Travis County Judge Andy Brown.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Great 2020 Seasonal Flu/Influenza Disappearing Act
It practically disappeared — or did it?
Covid is “seasonal influenza” in disguise — in the US and worldwide.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ive Nobel Prize winners have urged Donald Trump to “put a defining stamp” on his presidency by offering a pardon to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
The outgoing President is under pressure to stop the prosecution of Assange over the leak of US military cables and classified documents a decade ago.
Assange’s supporters say he is being persecuted as a journalist, claiming the case against him poses a threat to the First Amendment protection of free speech in the US Constitution.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US ‘Stands Ready’ To Try Terrorist Who Murdered American Journalist
Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen says that the US “…stands ready to take custody,” of a Pakistani terrorist convicted of murdering American journalist Daniel Pearl, CBS News reported.
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was released on Sunday on the order of a Pakistani court, sparking outrage from the US State Department, among other groups. Three of his accomplices were also released.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Vandalized Breonna Taylor Sculpture Now Missing
A ceramic bust in memory of Breonna Taylor that was vandalized last weekend has now been stolen.
The sculpture, installed less than two weeks ago outside downtown Latham Square in Oakland, California, was smashed and badly damaged Saturday by unknown vandals.
Now it’s missing, WDRB-TV reported.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
American robotics company Boston Dynamics released a video showing off its collection of robots dancing to The Contours’ ‘Do You Love Me’. But the reactions from the public were quite mixed.
Described by some as “uplifting and fantastic,” and “the most impressive engineering on earth,” others compared the robots to Terminator and RoboCop, and called them “dancing gun platforms.”
“We’ve collectively learned nothing from sci-fi movies. This is definitely the moment we’re supposed to turn back,” Box CEO Aaron Levie said, while novelist Antoine Wilson tweeted, “As I watch, all I can think about is how to disable them.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Doug Ford Accepts Resignation of Minister Who Went on Vacation During Lockdown
Ontario Premier Doug Ford told media that he has accepted the resignation of Finance Minister Rod Phillips after it was revealed earlier this week that the minister flew to a Caribbean island for a holiday vacation.
“At a time when the people of Ontario have sacrificed so much, today’s resignation is a demonstration that our government takes seriously our obligation to hold ourselves to a higher standard,” said Ford in a statement released on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian Minister Jetted to Caribbean While Lecturing People to ‘Sacrifice’ Holidays
Another government figure has been slammed for lecturing people to stay home to keep COVID cases down, while not even bothering to do so himself.
Ontario’s Finance Minister Rod Phillips has been slammed for asking people to ‘make sacrifices’ and forget about going on holiday, while himself jetting off to the Caribbean.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Another Person Dies Hours After Taking COVID Vaccine
An elderly man in Switzerland has reportedly died after taking the COVID-19 vaccine, following the death of another person who took the shot in Israel.
According to Reuters, the man lived in a nursing home in Lucerne Switzerland, and was one of the first people in the country to take the Pfizer jab.
“We are aware of the case,” an official said, noting that the case has been referred to Swiss drugs regulator Swissmedic.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Arabs: “Westerners Must Stop Appeasing Islamists”
The recent terrorist attacks carried out by Muslims in France and Austria should serve as a warning to Europeans who have long been appeasing and endorsing extremist Muslim politicians and organizations.
This warning was sounded in the past few weeks by a growing number of writers, political analysts and politicians in Arab and Islamic countries.The main message they are sending to the Europeans: Political Islam is a threat not only to non-Muslims, but to Muslims and Arabs as well. Europeans need to wake up and start confronting the Muslim extremists. “Political Islam organizations are the reason for spreading hatred and terrorism in the world,” said Saudi writer Mohammed al-Sheikh.
“Political Islamic organizations are the reason for perpetuating terrorism and hatred. These organizations are banned in most of the Islamic countries, while Europe, especially Britain, embraces them and allows them to operate freely. Europeans can only blame themselves…
| — Hat tip: acuara | [Return to headlines] |
British Judge to Rule on Julian Assange Extradition Monday
WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange is set to soon learn whether a British court believes he should be sent to the U.S. to face charges related to the infamous secret-spilling website he started.
A judge in London is scheduled to announce her decision Monday in the extradition case surrounding Mr. Assange, 49, an Australian citizen wanted in the U.S. for multiple felonies involving WikiLeaks.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Just 1,652 Days Late We Go With a Whimper, Not a Bang: UK Leaves the EU
The United Kingdom is no longer a meaningful member of the European Union, the culmination of decades of campaigning by Eurosceptics, and years of negotiations and political intrigue following the EU membership referendum.
Boris Johnson’s new European treaty, a trade deal agreed on Christmas Eve between the two parties and ratified by the British Parliament late last night took effect at 2300 GMT — until the very last moment the EU had proceedings running to their time, with Britain’s departure taking place at midnight Brussels’ time — signalling a major shift in the relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Make Ecocide an International Crime, Says Sophie Wilmés
Sophie Wilme’s, Belgium’s foreign minister, has called for ecocide — causing damage to the planet — to be made a crime under international law.
Wilme’s was speaking at the Assembly of States Parties to the Statute of Rome, which created the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Assembly took place in The Hague, although Wilme’s attended only via web-link.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Research: Melting of Greenland Ice Sheet Driven by Geothermal Forces
A team of researchers understands more about the melting of the Greenland ice sheet. They discovered a flow of hot rocks, known as a mantle plume, rising from the core-mantle boundary beneath central Greenland that melts the ice from below.
The results of their two-part study were published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
“Knowledge about the Greenland plume will bolster our understanding of volcanic activities in these regions and the problematic issue of global sea-level rising caused by the melting of the Greenland ice sheet,” said Dr. Genti Toyokuni, co-author of the studies.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Two Conservative members of the House of Lords intervened in the Brexit treaty debate to express gratitude to a giant of the Eurosceptic movement Nigel Farage.
Lord Howard of Rising, who voted for Britain to leave the European Economic Community in 1975 and the European Union in 2016, used the short time allocated to him to interject during the Boris Johnson EU treaty reading in the upper house to give a vote of thanks to two influential Brexiteers, Sir James Goldsmith and Nigel Farage.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
PM Orban: Weber Has Joined ‘Elite Club of the Left’
Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, struck a defiant tone in the latest statement he has issued in his ongoing battle with Manfred Weber, the German leader of the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament. Orban, whose Fidesz party is a member of the EPP, accused Weber of joining the “elite club of the left” and putting his own political ambitions above the needs of the party’s member states.
In his latest statement addressed to Weber, Orban touted his government’s achievements, pointing to its success in reducing unemployment and state debt while increasing wages and household assets and its child support programs.
Orban then accused Weber of “resenting” Hungary, claiming that this stems from his party’s refusal to support Weber’s candidacy for the EC presidency in 2019. He further blasted Weber for allowing his point of view to “succumb to personal anger or even hatred,” saying that this is unbecoming for the leader of a political party.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Police Chief Who Did Nothing as BLM Ripped Down Statue Honoured With Medal
The police chief who stood back and did nothing as Black Lives Matter activists ripped down a historic statue in Bristol, England, during lockdown has received a medal in the New Year Honours.
Superintendent Andy Bennet was in charge of the response — or non-response — to BLM activists pouring into the streets of Bristol despite a national lockdown to topple a 125-year-old bronze of Edward Colston (1636—1721), a figure once revered as a great Christian philanthropist responsible for endowing many almshouses, schools, and other charitable organisation who has since been transformed into a hate figure for his then-unremarkable business links to the slave trade.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A BRIT ISIS bride who was allowed to return to the UK calls children murdered in the Manchester Arena attack “victims of war.”
Samia Hussein, 25, who joined the Islamic State in 2015, was smuggled out of Syria earlier this year and was allowed to fly into Heathrow via Turkey in February.
She was detained on suspicion of membership of a banned organisation, under Section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
But when asked by The Sun whether Samia had been charged for joining a terror group, the Home Office said they could “not confirm or deny” the extremist’s status for “national security” reasons.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The ‘New Strain’ of COVID Propaganda
Politicians and “public health experts” around the world are using faulty models on a new variant of the novel coronavirus in order to cover for their failures in stopping its spread, while simultaneously leveraging the issue to demand renewed lockdowns and other punishing restrictions. Not much is known about the so-called “new strain” of the virus, but that hasn’t stopped the ruling class from using it to their advantage.
The latest narrative, which is being used as a vector for endless amounts of COVID-19 panic and fear mongering, is related to the claim that there is a new mutation of the novel coronavirus spreading, which is claimed to be much more contagious — a claimed 70%(!) increase in transmissibility — than the original dominant variant.
Here’s the problem with that claim: it’s based solely on a single model put together by a team of epidemiologists with a track record of failure. There is no actual evidence that the new variant of the coronavirus is any more or less transmissible or deadly than previous strains.
The 70% projection was first brought to our attention by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who, in a panicked address before his nation, appeared to blame the mutation for his government’s failure to “stop the spread” of the coronavirus through brutal draconian restrictions. He used the “new mutation” excuse to justify both his failures, and his doubling down on “tier 4” lockdowns to try to “stop the spread” of the new variant.
British media has reported Boris Johnson received his 70% more transmissible statistic from a single source, Erik Volz, an epidemiologist in his mid 30s who is currently a member of Imperial College London’s epidemiology department.
If Imperial College sounds familiar, that’s because the British institution is now infamous for its “plague of the century” epidemiological model for COVID-19, which projected that millions of Americans, and hundreds of millions of people worldwide, would die from the coronavirus in a matter of months. The Imperial model (which, again, was a mere projection of potential outcomes, and it used wildly inaccurate fatality and transmission data) was credited by The New York Times and other major publications with “jarring” the world into action and instituting brutal mitigation and suppression measures.
Neil Ferguson, the leader of Imperial College London’s COVID-19 response team, recently resigned from his top COVID-19 advisory role with the British government, following revelations that he was breaking the lockdown to meet up with his married lover. However, Ferguson reportedly played a pivotal role in convincing Boris Johnson to again reinstitute lockdowns over the holiday season. Ferguson has also been in the news for his new series of baseless claims that the new variant has a “higher propensity to infect children.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turbulent Wednesday Night as Police End Several Parties Across the Netherlands
The police once again put an end to several illegal parties on Wednesday night. In Hoofddorp in Noord-Holland and Tegelen in Limburg, large gatherings had been organized in empty business buildings. In Hoogersmilde in Drenthe, there was a fallout between police and young people who gathered around a burning car.
In Hoofddorp, there were over 120 partygoers present. The event had been announced on social media earlier in the day and was to take place “in or near Amsterdam,” so the police had it on their radar. They ended the party around 1.30 a.m. According to local news sources, every visitor received a fine.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Woman Arrested for Filming Inside Empty Hospital
A woman in the UK was arrested by police after she filmed a video inside an almost completely empty hospital and posted it online.
The clip shows the woman walking through virtually empty corridors and filming empty wards at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.
“This is a disgrace…it is so dead…all the people in our country desperately waiting for treatment, cancer treatment heart disease, honestly this is making me so angry,” she states as she films a row of empty waiting chairs.
The woman expressed shock at how quiet the hospital was, saying she expected there to be “a few more people around, there’s absolutely nobody.”
While the footage shows the inside of the hospital to be virtually empty, UK health authorities have continually asserted that the NHS is at risk of being “overwhelmed” as a result of rising COVID-19 infections.
NHS England says that there are now more COVID-19 patients in hospitals than there were during the April peak of the first wave.
However, public data shows that hospitals are indeed emptier than at this time last year, with beds being at 89% occupancy compared to 95% occupancy in December 2019.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Farage Says Brexit Wars Are Over, But There Are Still Battles Left to Fight
Brexit leader Nigel Farage has hailed the passing of the EU trade deal in parliament as “significant moment in our island story”, but says that while the Brexit Wars are over, there are still some battles left to fight, including stopping illegal aliens arriving via the English Channel and getting European supertrawlers out of British waters.
The UK is due to leave the EU’s institutions when the transition period expires at 11 pm on December 31st, 2020, putting into effect the UK-EU trade deal which the British Parliament passed into law late last night.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Recently retired doctors are being prevented from helping administer COVID-19 vaccines because the NHS requires them to have “diversity training” and knowledge of “radicalisation.”
Yes, really.
40,000 doctors and nurses applied to return to the NHS back in March at the start of the pandemic but only 5,000 had been given jobs by July, according to a report in the Telegraph.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Chinese court on Monday sentenced Zhang Zan, a 37-year-old Christian and citizen journalist, to four years in prison for her coverage of COVID-19 in the epicenter city, Wuhan.
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for Zhang’s release, condemned the Chinese Communist Party’s treatment of Zhang, and the country’s media censorship.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Trump to Declassify Intel Claiming China Funded Attacks on US Troops
President Trump is set to declassify intelligence that claims the communist Chinese government funded attacks on US troops in Afghanistan, according to a report.
Senior administration officials have told Axios that Trump was briefed on the intelligence before Christmas by by national security adviser Robert O’Brien.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Border Force officials have today rescued migrants making a desperate bid to cross the Channel in freezing winds — hours before the UK’s Brexit transition period ends.
Pictures show the asylum seekers being led ashore by Border Force officials in Dover after being intercepted in the English Channel this morning.
It is believed around 8,500 migrants have crossed from France this year.
The latest pictures come as Britain’s Brexit transition period ends tonight, with a new trade deal with the EU coming into force from 11pm.
Minor changes will be introduced on asylum seeker policy as a result, though they will have little practical impact at this point — until further agreements are reached with the EU.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Brexit Win: EU Immigrants to be Barred From Receiving Govt Benefits for Five Years
Immigrants from the European Union will have to wait for five years before claiming benefits from the British government following the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31st.
On Wednesday, the Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey confirmed that Europeans will indeed be subjected to the same rules regarding benefits as immigrants from the rest of the world.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Kill them whereever you find them”
Damn. Somebody stole my time machine. And now I am marooned. NOW.
And even Maryanne died… :;(…
Damnit Beavis…
New Year’s urban violence/rioting throughout France, despite the curfew
https://www.fdesouche.com/2020/12/31/violences-urbaines-du-nouvel-an-mulhouse-strasbourg-et-nice-ouvrent-le-bal/
Similar chaos in Ireland
https://mobile.twitter.com/BrettEverest/status/1344716577132974081
Stabbing in London
https://mobile.twitter.com/999London/status/1344834844757553152
The director of the Paris Opera announces that classical works, such as “Swan Lake” or “Habitter”, will “disappear” to make way for “minorities”
https://www.fdesouche.com/2020/12/28/opera-de-paris-des-oeuvres-du-repertoire-classique-comme-le-lac-des-cygnes-ou-casse-noisette-vont-sans-doute-disparaitre-pour-faire-place-aux-danseurs-metis-et-noirs-annonce-le-direct/
Spanish NGO “Open Arms” collects about 170 migrants off the Libyan coast on New Year’s Eve after being at sea for a week: “Tonight, our old tug went to sea for its #Mission79. At Christmas, we will be at sea, protecting the most vulnerable, defending the rights and lives of those fleeing in search of peace.”
https://www.fdesouche.com/2021/01/01/mediterranee-sur-zone-depuis-une-semaine-et-apres-avoir-passe-noel-en-mer-lequipage-de-lopen-arms-recueille-environ-170-migrants-au-large-des-cotes-libyennes-la-veille-du-nouvel-an/
https://www.rt.com/news/511279-strasbourg-30-cars-torched/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
https://mobile.twitter.com/tonybalogna/status/1344811001783447552
Smh
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9103595/Londons-New-Year-light-display-slammed-BLM-fist-salutes.html
Happy New Year and thanks very much for the wonderful Gates of Vienna blog.
I am writing to let everyone know about a matter of the gravest concern that is taking place in the People’s Republic of Killer Cuomo’s New York Gulag. If I did not have the text of the actual bill that our Communist Dem legislators are trying to pass this year, no one would believe what they are trying to do in NY, namely, to be able to place people with Covid or any other serious disease, into internment (concentration) camps.
Before you dismiss me as being a total crackpot, I urge you and especially my New York friends who post here, to read the following excerpts from proposed Bill A16. As you can see, we will have zero protection from either the US or NYS Constitutions and the State will be able to imprison us, our families or a group upon the mere suspicion that we either have covid or might have it.
Here is the relevant section and I will include a pdf of the bill at the bottom of my post.
“Removal and detention of cases, contacts and carriers who are or may be a danger to public health; other orders. The provisions of this section shall be utilized in the event that the governor declares a state of health emergency due to an epidemic of any communicable disease.
Upon determining by clear and convincing evidence that the health of others is or may be endangered by a case, contact or carrier, suspected case, contact or carrier of a contagious disease that, in the opinion of the governor, after consultation with the commissioner, may pose an imminent and significant threat to the public health resulting in severe morbidity or high mortality, the governor or his or her delegee, including, but not limited to the commissioner or the heads of local health departments, may order the removal and/or detention of such a person or of a group of such persons by issuing a single order, identifying such persons either by name or by a reasonably specific description of the individuals or group being detained.
Such person or group of persons shall be detained in a medical facility or other appropriate facility or premises designated by the governor or his or her delegee.
A person or group removed or detained by order of the governor or his or her delegee…. shall be detained for such period and in such manner as the department may direct in accordance with this section.
If there are any New Yorkers reading this, please leave a comment to let me know your thoughts.
Bill #A416 https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/bills/2021/A416
This bill is mostly likely aimed at the Hassidic Jews who are the only organized group that is actively resisting Cuomo’s sociopathic orders and decrees. As you can see, the Communist Dems want to set up concentration camps for people who have either the Chinese Flu or whatever the next big cold virus will be.
Any excuse to further tighten the noose our our neck.
I am a lifelong resident of this benighted state and I am fighting being forced out of my home. However, at some point if it looks like I will become a candidate for forced detention and “Quarantine” I will be getting out while I still can.
I am not a resident of NY but there is someone in Rochester who is very involved in local politics. Her name is Shannon Joy and you can find her on social media. Forgive me if I am providing you with a reference you have already found in your own research. But just in case you have not heard of her, I wanted to mention her as a potential contact. I did see something from her earlier in the year when there was some talk about possible detention facilities. I have not checked in with her lately but I am sure she is aware of this most recent horror.
I must say that even if I had not already heard of this scenario from Shannon Joy, I would have believed everything you said in your post because nothing surprises me anymore. I am sure there are others who feel the same way!
https://mobile.twitter.com/BrettEverest/status/1345150838843592704